1. Related Applications
This application is designed to make use of information supplied by ground stations as taught in our co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 08/854,104 filed 11 May 2001 for a Dual Mode of Operation Multiple Access System for Data Link Communication which is incorporated by reference herein.
2. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to communication networks of the type employed between airborne platforms and ground stations. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and system for controlling the bandwidth of data transmitted by airborne transmitters to multiple ground station receivers.
3. Description of the Prior Art
Heretofore, point-to-point networks have been employed as intranets in businesses and as internets in the worldwide web. Point-to-point communications relate to a message or data sent to a particular receiver or user from a single source. When there are a number of receivers, the same message must be sent to each of the receivers which increases the bandwidth proportional to the number of receivers. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,038,216 and 6,046,980, and references cited therein, have suggested a method and system for managing bandwidth in point-to-point networks by assigning priorities to the type of data and to the individual receivers or users. There are no known systems or apparatus for prioritizing messages and data in multi-broadcast or point-to-multipoint network systems.
It would be highly desirable to provide a method and a system for managing bandwidth in a point-to-multipoint central node airborne broadcasting system.